Mark Pope on the ups and downs of Kentucky season: ‘We’re on a journey’

Kentucky‘s 2025-26 season has been a roller coaster. The Wildcats entered the season ranked No. 9 in the country. However, the team underperformed against quality competition early in the year.

In fact, Kentucky lost its first four games against ranked opponents and fell out of the AP Top 25. In turn, some Kentucky fans grew frustrated with head coach Mark Pope. Some members of the Big Blue Nation even called for Pope to be fired.

Alas, Pope remained focus on the task at hand. Now, Kentucky has won six of its last seven games, most recently defeating Arkansas on Saturday. After the game, Pope opened up about the Wildcats’ tumultuous season.

“We’re on a journey and it might not be the journey that anybody anticipated, whatever, but I love it,” Pope said. “I’ll tell you, I’ve never coached a team like this, to be dead and buried like we were, and to take all the heat and hate that these guys have taken, and then just keep saying, ‘You know what? Doesn’t matter, we’re coming back, man. We’re coming back.’ In all fairness, some of it’s been self inflicted, right?

“But the guys are just like we’re coming back, and this performance tonight from our guys, their intentionality and focus in this game, short handed, down to a really, really limited rotation right now with all the stuff, for them to come here and do this, I’m just like, I keep saying this—I didn’t say after we got cooked by Vandy, but I’ve said this a lot—don’t miss it. Because if we could just take this for what it is, what these guys did tonight was awesome.”

Kentucky’s win over Arkansas was a bounce-back performance for the Wildcats, who suffered an 80-55 blowout loss to Vanderbilt in their previous game. Kentucky attacked the Razorbacks early, immediately jumping out to a lead.

It was a heated battle between the two teams, with six total technical fouls in the game. Nonetheless, Kentucky’s resilience ultimately guided it to a win over the Razorbacks. Arkansas entered the highly-anticipated showdown with a 13-0 record at home this season.

With the win, Kentucky improved to 5-6 in Quad 1 games this season. While the Wildcats have many more challenges ahead, Mark Pope is happy with his team’s progress.

Kentucky will look to build on its momentum when it squares off against Oklahoma on Wednesday at 9 p.m. ET. The game will air live on ESPN.